5 Executive summary This literature review of neglect has been undertaken to assist in refining definitions, examining risk factors, investigating developmental consequences, guiding management of cases, informing policy and identifying service strategies. Definitions There is a lack of consistency in how neglect is defined. Several definitions of neglect have been proposed. Most commonly they emphasise that a child s basic developmental needs have not been met by acts of omission by those responsible for that child. In contrast, abuse is associated with acts of commission resulting in harm to the child. Usually neglect is categorised into physical, emotional, supervisory, medical and educational neglect with several sub-categories for each type. Greater specificity of definition is hampered by debates about what constitutes basic developmental needs and the level of care considered adequate to meet these needs. Definitions are further qualified by debates about actual harm, potential harm, impaired development, social conditions, cultural beliefs, levels of chronicity and severity and the intent of caregivers. Prevalence Neglect is the most common form, and also the fastest growing category, of maltreatment in Canada, United States and the United Kingdom. In Australia overall rates of neglect appear lower. However, definitional differences make international and interstate comparisons in Australia, difficult. Correlates of neglect Neglectful parenting is most strongly associated with poverty. It often occurs where there are large numbers of children being cared for by a young single mother with little social support. Substance abuse, mental health issues and domestic violence often add to already limited parenting capacity and serve to exacerbate the situation. It may be misleading to generalise the findings of research carried out in the United States to the Australian context. Given the strong association between neglect and poverty, the very different family welfare policies in the two countries may contribute to the perception of neglect, and how it is treated, in these countries. Young children (infants and toddlers) and those with a disability are those most likely to be neglected, suggesting high levels of dependency are associated with neglect. Unlike other forms of child maltreatment, neglect seems to be unrelated to temperament and gender. In the United States it has also been shown to be unrelated to ethnicity once other socio-demographic variables have been taken into account. Effects of neglect While each neglectful incident may seem trivial, the long-term consequences of chronic neglect may be more damaging than isolated incidents of physical abuse. Children who have been neglected are prone to internalising problems such as low self-esteem, depression, social withdrawal, apathy, passivity and helplessness. They are often delayed in their cognitive and language development and have poor communication skills. They have difficulty with interpersonal relationships. iii

6 In the longer-term neglected children lack the ability to participate fully in society as adults. An estimated half of the maltreatment fatalities are attributable to childhood neglect. Childhood maltreatment fatalities are most often the result of a single life-threatening incident. This makes their prediction, and therefore prevention, extremely difficult. Service provision Service providers need to be able to recognise early indicators of neglect. While there are a number of scales which purport to measure caregiving quality, they rarely have the predictive validity needed to be useful to practitioners. Guidelines to assist social workers dealing with neglectful families stress the importance of treating the families with respect, targeting their strengths, being culturally sensitive, setting clear achievable goals that require only small incremental change, and brokerage to cover basic necessities and purchase services. The threat of legal action should be used only as a last resort. Effective interventions are those that support the parent and provide the child with the cognitive stimulation and the emotional warmth that they lack at home. For this reason high quality child care, home visiting programs and co-located multi-component services, which target both parent and child, may be effective. Given the association with poverty, interventions need to be concrete and meet the families identified priorities. The greater the severity and chronicity of neglect the more directly the intervention needs to target the child. Family preservation programs have only had limited success with neglectful families. Where neglect is severe and chronic children may be better served by permanent placement with another family. Barriers to service provision Neglectful families are extremely hard to recruit and engage. Service providers may not report neglect because: each incident seems too trivial on its own they are reluctant to pathologise families already disadvantaged by poverty they tend to prioritise more violent maltreatment when resources are scarce they see the problem in terms of the parents substance abuse or mental health and organise treatment for the adult to which children s services are not linked. Given their history and current disadvantage, it is not surprising that Indigenous families in Australia have higher levels of neglect than non-indigenous families. Offers of intervention are regarded warily by this group following decades of a policy of child removal. These families need to be treated with greater sensitivity by service providers due to cultural and historical factors. iv

7 Implications Questions that need further analysis are: What characteristics/behaviours of families lead to a classification of neglect? Do current assessments accurately identify neglect cases? What happens to children who suffer from being chronically but less severely neglected? What services are provided and which are most effective? Is some type of family support more beneficial in the first instance? A nested study could examine the effectiveness of different types of interventions. More accurate information and a more in-depth understanding could be gained by prospectively tracking the progress of a group of children classified as neglected at notification. v

8 1. Introduction 1.1 Overview The focus of this literature review is specifically on child neglect. The first section examines issues associated with defining neglect and examining its prevalence. It then summarises the research in relation to risk factors, effects on child development, assessment issues and effective service sector response. Neglect issues relevant to Indigenous communities are addressed in a separate section. The evidence base relies heavily on overseas research, for the most part carried out in the United States. The welfare and legislative context in Australia differs markedly from that of the United States especially in relation to issues surrounding neglect. It is proposed further research be undertaken to understand neglectful families within the Australian context. 1.2 A focus on neglect The review is primarily based on a library search of the search engines EBSCO, Gale, OVID, CSA, Informit and Ingenta for access to peer reviewed scientific journal articles. This included the following databases: SocINDEX with fulltext, Psychology and Behavioural Science Collection, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, PsycBOOKS, PsycEXTRA, Academic Search Premier, Sociological Collection, Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, and Expanded Academic ASAP. Government reports from the National Centre for Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington, the Australian Institute of Family Studies and the Canadian Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect were accessed through APAIS as well as a more general Google search using neglect in combination with child ; neglect in combination with child abuse ; and, neglect in combination with child maltreatment as key words. During the course of this literature search it became apparent that child abuse and neglect have become fused into a single entity, as if describing one phenomenon. In fact most research focuses on abuse. As a result it has become commonplace in child protection research to refer to the neglect of neglect. A search of PsycINFO published in the five years to December 2004 revealed 3888 entries for child abuse (often also incorporating neglect) but only 57 that concentrated specifically on neglect. This conceptual merging of abuse and neglect has made the assessment of the differential impact of each one difficult to disentangle. The articles which do focus on neglect are often theoretical with an emphasis on refining definitional issues rather than providing the hard data to inform practice and policy. However without a clear definition to underpin the research, conclusions necessarily remain qualified. 1.3 Definitional debates and issues The attempt to be all encompassing within a single, succinct definition of neglect has often resulted in broad definitions that are vague, and therefore limited in their usefulness. An alternative approach has to been to compile detailed lists of possible neglectful behaviours. Although clearer, these lists have the disadvantage of not taking context into account, being unwieldy and prescriptive. Child physical, sexual or emotional abuse is traditionally defined in terms of harm to the child. In contrast, neglect is defined by what is not happening to the child rather than what is happening. Several definitions have been proposed, each with a slight difference in emphasis (eg Gaudin, 1993; United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2001; Polansky, Chalmers, Williams & Buttenwieser, 1981; Straus & Kantor, 2005). The common broad elements usually include that a child s basic developmental needs have not been met (or development has been impaired) as a result of acts of omission on the part of those responsible for a child. The definitions, whichever slant they take, tend to be phrased in the negative. Often added to such definitions are qualifiers relating to factors such as social conditions, cultural beliefs, the importance of chronicity, the level of potential or actual harm to the child, or the intent of the caregivers. Whether a broad or narrow definition of neglect is adopted depends upon whether it is to be used for legal, research, policy or service provision purposes. 1

9 A narrow legal definition of neglect is needed to protect the rights of the family. Narrower definitions include that the child has been harmed or has been placed in a situation that is potentially harmful. They are also more likely to hold a specific person responsible. For researchers the definition is also often very narrow to ensure a valid sample. In this case, samples are often sought through the child protection agencies and are made up of substantiated neglect cases. A broad definition is needed when the intention is to provide appropriate services. The focus is then on at-risk families, who may have trouble meeting all a child s needs without support. This broadening of the definition is in line with a shift towards early intervention and prevention in the service response. However, by broadening the definition, a greater number of children will be captured within its rubric and classified as neglected. The breadth of the definition needs to be taken into account when assessing trends in neglect as changes in definition will be reflected in the numbers categorised. Whichever approach is adopted, there is still a lack of consensus about what constitutes neglect. The same questions have predominated in the literature on neglect over the past decade (see Gaudin, 1993; Straus & Kantor, 2005). These include: What constitutes meeting the developmental needs of children? How socially and culturally dependent is the concept of neglect? To what extent is neglect defined by harm to the child? To what extent is neglectful behaviour wilful or intended? Does failure to meet needs have to be persistent? What constitutes meeting developmental needs? The broadest definition of neglect, proposed by Dubowitz (2004) is an unelaborated the basic needs of the child are not met. The rationale for such a broad definition was to avoid the notion of blaming someone for not meeting these needs (Dubowitz, 2004). However, if some of the purpose of a definition is for clarification and ease of categorisation, the fundamental questions regarding what constitutes the minimal standard of care required to meet basic needs, and who might be responsible for meeting them, remains unanswered. Early definitions of neglect focused on physical neglect, such as inadequate living environment, personal hygiene or nutrition perhaps because this type of neglect is most readily apparent (James, 2000a). Definitions have since expanded to include multiple categories such as supervisory neglect, abandonment or desertion, and educational or medical neglect. Psychological and emotional neglect have been added, which are less easy to recognise and quantify, for instance how can the amount of nurturing required to secure a child s emotional wellbeing be measured? It is even more difficult to define and measure how much lack of nurture is emotionally damaging. Cut-off points above or below which any type of neglect is considered to have occurred are not sharply defined (May-Chahal & Cawson, 2005). 1 It is difficult to define the point on the continuum of duty of care at which behaviour becomes neglectful. There is substantial agreement by observers in the more obvious cases where there is a failure to protect from harm, for example toddlers left unsupervised, five or six year olds being left home alone, children who are not fed regularly, are chronically dirty, or absent from school (Gaudin, 1993). For the more borderline cases, whether parents are failing to meet basic needs or failing to promote wellbeing, several authors suggest the context needs to be considered (Dubowitz, 2004; Gaudin, 1993; Polansky et al., 1981). 2 1 Cawson, Wattam, Brooker and Kelly (2000) give some guidelines as to what constitutes eg supervisory neglect, but these may only serve to highlight the difficulties in finding agreement. For instance, there may not be agreement with their proposal that serious neglect is considered to have occurred when a nine- year old is at home unsupervised or intermediate neglect has occurred when a child age 10 or 11 years is at home without an adult.

10 1.3.2 Are developmental needs socially and culturally defined? Although there is agreement across social and ethnic backgrounds on what constitutes serious neglect, whether a child s basic developmental needs have or have not been met is, to some extent, socially and culturally constructed. In Australia, there is both a relatively large, and an increasing gap between the rich and the poor (Harding, 2005; United Nations Development Program, 2004) and great cultural diversity (ABS, 2004, Cat. no. 3412). Ambiguity generated by this heightens the risk of an inaccurate assessment of neglect. This may occur by imposing an Anglo, middle-class notion of children s needs on a social and cultural minority and attributing neglect where it is not warranted. However, it also increases the chance of overlooking neglect as social workers hesitate to blame minority group families or those living in poverty (Tanner & Turney, 2003; Tomison, 1995). Cultural differences are likely to relate to the age at which a child can adequately care for themselves after school (self-care) or safely look after a younger sibling. In Laos or Cambodia, an infant could be expected to be left in the day-long care of a seven or eight year old sibling; both children would be considered neglected in Australia (Korbin & Spilsbury, 1999, cited in Straus & Kantor, 2005) Does a child have to be harmed for neglect to have occurred? This is part of the broader question about whether to define neglect on the basis of adult behaviour or the outcome for the child. Within a narrow definition, the behaviour of caregivers has to result in specific physical harm or identifiable symptoms of emotional harm in order for their behaviour to be considered neglectful. Polansky et al. (1981), for example, argue that actual harm has to have occurred, or that development must be impaired. In contrast, Straus and Kantor (2005) argue that the focus should be on the actions of the caregivers, not the consequences of their behaviour, nor their intent or culpability. Unlike children who have been abused, only 25 per cent of children reported to a child protection agency for neglect suffered immediate physical harm (Zuravin, 1988). As an example, if a four-year-old and a five-year-old child are left alone for 24 hours and manage to look after themselves and no harm befalls them, the behaviour of the parent is still neglectful. The same children may be left alone for 10 minutes and may be injured in that time. Both acts may be neglectful but, if defined on the basis of harm the latter would be considered more extreme, if defined on the basis of parental action, the former would be considered more neglectful. If only those children who are harmed are considered neglected, the prevalence of neglect will be vastly underestimated. Policies and services that could support children and their families before harm occurs are less likely to be put into place. It also makes it difficult to examine the harmful effects of neglectful caregiver behaviour as the neglectful behaviour and the resulting harm are considered to be the same concept, or in research terms, measured by the same variable (Straus & Kantor, 2005) Is harm intended? If neglect were defined in terms of harm to the child, there is no longer the need for the subjective interpretation of parental intention (Connell-Carrick, 2003). However, the same behaviour and the same harm done to children may be judged differently depending on how the intentions of the parents are perceived. Some parents are unable to meet their child s basic needs despite good intentions (for example, through poverty). Others may lack the knowledge to provide a nutritious diet, or lack the understanding of child development and so allow a child to play unsupervised in a dangerous situation. Social workers are less likely to report mothers who are seen not to have the capacity to provide adequate care, than those who are considered capable of providing adequate care but fail to do so (Coohey, 2003). Minty and Pattinson (1994) incorporate this into their definition of neglect by qualifying that the child s basic needs are not met, in spite of the parents having the economic resources to meet these at a basic level. 3

11 By not classifying as neglected those children whose parents are well-intended but fail to meet their needs, their numbers will be underestimated, with a consequent failure of policy makers and service providers to take remedial measures. It can be argued that asking the reasons for caregivers being unable to meet the children s needs is a separate question. To understand how some impoverished parents manage to meet their children s basic needs when others do not, all children whose needs are not met need to be identified, regardless of cause (Straus & Kantor, 2005). The extent to which parents are culpable may define the type of intervention provided but it should not preclude the classification of a child as neglected Does the failure to meet basic needs have to be persistent? Some definitions suggest differentiating chronic or persistent neglect from episodic, reactive or transitory neglect. This differentiation recognises that some parents may struggle to deliver appropriate care at times of crisis and that there is an implicit cultural tolerance of rarely occurring neglectful behaviour for parents, all of whom may be occasionally inattentive (Tanner & Turney, 2003; Straus & Kantor, 2005). 2 Chronic neglect, on the other hand, is characterised by an ingrained sense of hopelessness in the parents and an unremitting low level of care for the children (Tanner & Turney, 2003). While the severity (presumed harmfulness or illegality) as well as the chronicity (frequency and duration) of the neglectful behaviour are important considerations (Barnett, Miller-Perrin & Perrin, 1997; Straus & Kantor, 2005) it can also be argued that even a single incident can constitute neglect. Leaving a pre-schooler unsupervised for several hours is neglectful behaviour whether it is a single incident or has occurred several times (Zuravin, 1999). 1.4 Towards a working definition A working definition of neglect needs to be broad enough to encompass systemic change by recognising the impact of policy decisions on child outcomes, but it also needs to allow field workers to identify children who are neglected. It needs to be able to include children who have not been harmed but whose development will be impaired without supportive interventions. It is argued that a child-focussed definition of neglect should be considered. A child is neglected if, within cultural expectations, his or her developmental needs are not met by those responsible regardless of intent, culpability, or social or ethnic background. 3 Levels of intent and culpability, chronicity and severity, as well as social and ethnic background should be taken into account when considering the legal implications and appropriate service provision. The definition adopted here is most closely aligned with that proposed by Straus and Kantor (2005, p. 20) which states: Neglectful behaviour is behaviour by a caregiver that constitutes a failure to act in ways that are presumed by the culture of a society to be necessary to meet the developmental needs of a child and which are the responsibility of a caregiver to provide. A broad definition may need to be complemented by more detailed descriptions differentiating subcategories of neglect. Although this often entails long lists of acts of omission or commission, it is likely to be of more use to practitioners. 2 The definition of the Department of Health in the United Kingdom emphasises chronicity. Neglect is seen as a persistent failure to meet a child s basic physical and/or psychological needs likely to result in the serious impairment of the child s health or development. It may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter or clothing, failing to protect a child from physical harm or danger, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child s basic emotional needs. (Department of Health Working Together definition, 1999, p. 6, cited in Tanner & Turney, 2003). 4 3 A child in a refugee camp who does not access schooling suffers educational neglect regardless of whether it is because there is no schooling available or because the parents permit the child not to attend. The responsibility to remedy the situation differs.

12 In an attempt to overcome the problem of non-uniform definitions, the US Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS, Sedlack & Broadhurst, 1996) proposed a standard definition of neglect. They differentiated five major types of neglect with 17 subcategories. These definitions have since been added to and adapted by others, such as Gaudin (1993) and Sullivan (2000) and apply to all those caring for children. These categories proposed are detailed in Appendix A and include: Physical neglect with subcategories of general neglect (eg failure to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter), medical neglect, abandonment and expulsion. Supervisory neglect related to inadequate supervision dependent on the age of the child involved. Emotional neglect 4 with subcategories of inadequate nurturance or affection, chronic or extreme spousal abuse, permitted drug or alcohol use, permitted maladaptive behaviour, refusal of psychological care, delay in psychological care, or other emotional neglect. Educational neglect with subcategories of permitted or chronic truancy, failure to enrol or inattention to special educational need. 4 Emotional neglect may also overlap to some extent with emotional abuse, however the latter is usually considered to be more active (Tanner & Turney, 2003). Abuse comprises the sustained assault on the identity and personality of the child, through threatening, yelling and verbal degradation, terrorising, exploiting, corrupting and refusing to be emotionally responsive whereas emotional neglect is related more to the psychological unavailability of the parent and the absence of consistent interaction. Emotional neglect often emanates from parental unawareness and ignorance, depressive moods, chaotic lifestyles, poverty, lack of support and inappropriate child-rearing models (Sullivan, 2000). 5

13 Summary A precise definition of neglect is often hampered by the consideration of abuse and neglect as the same phenomenon. Abuse refers to acts of commission whereas neglect refers to acts of omission. Much of the literature is centred around debates about the following questions: What constitutes meeting developmental needs of children? How socially and culturally dependent is the concept of neglect? To what extent is neglect defined by harm to the child? To what extent is neglectful behaviour wilful or intended? Does failure to meet needs have to be persistent? Some of the answers to these questions depend on the purpose of the definition. Narrower definitions are needed for legal and research purposes than are required for service provision purposes. Straus and Kantor (2005, p. 20) state: Neglectful behaviour is behaviour by a caregiver that constitutes a failure to act in ways that are presumed by the culture of a society to be necessary to meet the developmental needs of a child and which are the responsibility of a caregiver to provide. A useful definition may be one that provides a broad understanding of the concept of neglect in combination with detailed descriptions of subcategories of neglectful behaviour including physical, supervisory, emotional and educational neglect. 6

14 2. Prevalence of neglect 2.1 International and national trends In Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, neglect is the most common form of maltreatment. In the United States, 61 per cent of all child maltreatment victims suffer from neglect (USDHHS, 2005). There is a substantiation rate of 7.5 per 1000 for neglect compared with 2.3 per 1000 for physical abuse (USDHHS, 2005). Neglect is also the primary reason for a report in 42 per cent and 40 per cent of all maltreatment cases in the United Kingdom and Canada respectively (Department for Education and Skills, 2004; Trocmé, MacLaurin, Fallon, Dacuik, Billingsley, Tourigny et al., 2001). Neglect is also the fastest growing form of maltreatment. In the United Kingdom the proportion classified as neglected within the maltreated population, more than tripled between 1991 to 2001 (Evans, 2002; City & Hackney Area Child Protection Committee, 2002), although the rates have plateaued since then (Department for Education and Skills, 2004). In the United States there was an increase in both emotional neglect (333 per cent) and physical neglect (102 per cent) between the Second and Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-2 to NIS-3, ; Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002). In Canada the rate doubled between 1993 and Compared with physically abused children, neglected children are also 44 per cent more likely to suffer a recurrence (Fluke, Yuan & Edwards, 1999; USDHHS, 2001). These figures paint a somewhat distorted picture as neglect is difficult to isolate from other forms of maltreatment. Co-occurrence of types of maltreatment is not uncommon. Nevertheless, in Canada, 31 per cent of all reports involved neglect as a single category. Neglect was the most common type of single category report of maltreatment, compared with single category physical abuse of 22 per cent, single category sexual abuse of 8 per cent and emotional abuse of 15 per cent (Trocmé & Wolfe, 2001). Co-occurring with neglect were another 4 per cent of cases involving physical abuse, 2 per cent involving sexual abuse, 8 per cent involving emotional abuse and 2 per cent involving neglect with physical abuse and emotional abuse (Trocmé et al., 2001). In Australia, Tomison (1995) found 15 per cent of cases labelled as neglect also involved some physical abuse. Of those children who are neglected in the United States, the most common category was physical neglect which accounts for 43 per cent of all neglect (Sullivan, 2000 she includes supervisory neglect in this category). Physical neglect may have received more attention than other forms of neglect because people are more likely to report a child who is malnourished, unclothed or unsupervised than one who is emotionally deprived. Amongst those living in poverty in the United States, 60 per 1000 suffer physical neglect whereas only 20 per 1000 suffer emotional neglect (Sullivan, 2000). Coohey (2003) suggests that supervisory neglect represents the largest single type of child maltreatment (30 per cent) more than physical abuse (19 per cent) or sexual abuse (10 per cent). In Canada it accounts for almost half the cases of neglect (Trocmé et al., 2001). Despite this, few studies have been published that focus on supervision problems (Bloom, 2000). In Australia, there are comparatively lower rates of neglect. In , 31 per cent of substantiations of child maltreatment were classified as neglect (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2004); an increase from 23 per cent of cases from (AIHW figures, cited in Tomison, 1995). Figures range from 19 per cent in NSW to 42 per cent in South Australia (AIHW, 2004). Differences in rates between states are likely to be a function of differences in definition, differences in capacity to follow up and the categorisation adopted to inform service response. In Western Australia neglected children are likely to attract a Concern Report and in Tasmania many neglectful families would be passed directly to support services and thus not be included in the maltreatment statistics (AIHW, 2002). Neglect is still the most common category of substantiation in Australia. By comparison, 27 per cent of substantiations were of physical abuse, 25 per cent of emotional abuse and 13 per cent of sexual abuse, although again definitional differences resulted in large variation between states (extrapolated from AIHW, 2004) data are not available for NSW. This paper relies on the more complete data set available across Australia in

15 2.2 Neglect rates and a comparison of welfare systems Australia s low rate of neglect compared with the United States may be in part explained by the greater welfare support available in Australia. Welfare to Work programs in the United States have a capped lifetime limit of five years that a family can receive public assistance. If a parent has a criminal record or a drug problem, public assistance can be denied outright (Berry, Charleson & Dawson, 2003). After welfare benefits cease, families can ask for assistance from the child welfare system but it does not have any programs to meet the financial needs of families. The most common response to the needs of neglectful families is to place their children in foster care (Duerr-Berrick & Duerr, 1997). There are now increasing numbers of children in foster care in the United States after a decline during the 1980s. Many of these children are victims of neglect rather than abuse (Berry et al., 2003). Relatively recent changes in legislation in the United States in 1997 (Adoption and Safekeeping) states that courts must pursue termination of parental rights once the child has been in foster care for 15 of the last 22 months of care (Berry et al., 2003). Of children in the welfare system in the United States 41 per cent of children have been in out-of-home placement for at least 18 months (Berry et al., 2003). In contrast in Australia, there is broader eligibility for welfare benefits which, unless welfare conditions are breached, are likely to continue as a function of the age of children involved. With these benefits, careful budgeting and perhaps some assistance from charitable and/or other organisations, most families are likely to be in a financial position to provide for children s basic needs. Nevertheless some children are likely to suffer neglect. Parents with intellectual disabilities, substance abuse problems or mental health problems are amongst those, not only most likely to be neglectful, but also to incur breaches of welfare conditions and to lack the resources to cope on a limited budget. While the situation might be quite precarious for some families, there is not the depth and breadth of poverty (including unemployment and homelessness) as exists in the United States. There is a lower level of all child maltreatment in Australia than the United States as well, with a substantiation rate of around 5.7 per 1000 in Australia compared with 12.4 per 1000 in the United States (AIHW, 2004; USDHHS, 2005), although figures tend to be a bit rubbery because of the definitional issues. The narrower the definition the fewer the number of children likely to be classified as maltreated, whereas the broader the definition the more children are likely to be captured. This makes accurate comparisons difficult. Summary Neglect is the most common form of maltreatment and also the fastest growing category in Canada, United States and the United Kingdom. Between 40 and 60 per cent of all reports of maltreatment are for neglect with about two thirds of these being for neglect only. The rate of neglect is lower in Australia, particularly in NSW, although it is still the most common form of maltreatment. The welfare and legislative context in Australia differs markedly from that of the United States especially in relation to issues surrounding neglect, making comparisons of prevalence difficult. Even within Australia, differences in definition and classification for the purposes of service response, means rates of neglect in the States and Territories cannot be easily compared. 8

16 3. A socio-ecological model of neglect 3.1 The socio-ecological model Efforts to reduce the incidence of neglect aim at prevention through an understanding of its causes. Traditionally, neglectful parenting was seen as a function of the parental characteristics (Éthier, Lacharité & Couture, 2000, p. 20; Evans, 2002; Crittenden, 1996; Belsky, 1993). Consequently, Swift (1995, p. 75) argued that scrutiny of personal characteristics of mothers continued as a primary focus for social workers concerned with the care of children. As an understanding of the influence of social context on developmental outcomes has increased over the past twenty years, researchers have examined correlates of neglect within the broader framework of the socio-ecological model (Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994). This expanded the focus of explanation of developmental outcomes from the parents to include the influences of the broader social context and characteristics of the child (see Figure 1). The child, with a given genetic predisposition, is seen as being at the centre of a series of concentric circles. The family is still conceptualised as the most powerful influence on a child. However, other proximal influences such as the child s extended family, peer group, school and the local neighbourhood are also included. Furthermore, distal influences such as the media, governmental family policies, current cultural beliefs and values are seen as contributing to shaping a child s developmental health. In between the proximal and distal influences are such influences as the parents workplaces, parents informal and formal supports and the interaction between them. Although, Bronfenbrenner and Ceci (1994) had originally conceptualised this model as a way of understanding individual children s developmental outcomes, Keating and Hertzman (1999) expanded this concept and argued that the broader societal influences could influence the developmental health of the society in which people lived. There is now some evidence to support the notion that variations in developmental wellbeing across countries may be related to the macro-economic policies of these countries (Phipps, 1999). 9

18 3.2.1 A pathway approach The developmental pathway or trajectory a particular child follows is hypothesised to be a function of multiple proximal and distal factors (Rubin, LeMare & Lollis, 1990; Belsky, 1993). Proximal influences that support or erode parental efforts (for example, the level of pre-natal care received, parenting style, family situation and parental mental health) can be considered, as well as distal influences (such as, work/family policies, availability of child care and societal attitudes). Some of these factors will increase the child s risk, some will protect and some will add to the child s resilience. The socio-ecological theoretical model considers societal, family and child characteristics. In societies that offer only marginal support to parents, where jobs are often insecure or casual, or where attitudes towards single parents are negative, the groundwork is laid for some groups, such as disadvantaged single mothers, to feel alienated and insecure. If, in addition, they have little social support from family and friends, are poor and live in a dangerous neighbourhood, this heightens their insecurity. Limited intelligence and education may further compound their problems. If their own childhood has been characterised by abuse and neglect, and their current relationships are characterised by conflict, violence and substance abuse, the additional demands of a new baby (exhausting enough for those with many psychological and material resources) may be quite overwhelming. If the baby is grizzly, difficult or demanding, this may increase the chance of either abuse, or just keeping out of earshot and ignoring the child s needs. Where the child is placid and quiet, the child may also be easily ignored. A child whose bids for attention are generally ignored and whose few interactions are without affect or joy soon learns to give up trying and becomes quiet and apathetic. The lack of physical care and hygiene may result in the child becoming dirty and smelly, increasing the chances that this pattern is repeated in the world outside the family as the child attends preschool or school. Teachers may find them slow and unappealing and their peers may subject them to taunts and bullying behaviour. In this model (see Figure 2), it can be seen how each risk factor acts in a cumulative way to increase the chances of a negative outcome for the child but that many of the risk factors are likely to be interrelated (such as single parenthood and poverty). The existence of one risk factor then increases the chance of another risk factor occurring, often compounding the negative effects. 11

20 3.2 Testing the theoretical model There are two main ways of examining relationships between the child, family and socio-demographic variables and developmental outcomes. First, a longitudinal design can be adopted which follows the developmental trajectories of a cohort of children and their families over a period of time. This allows causal relationships to be established between variables, so that the mechanisms by which risk is transmitted can be isolated. Where longitudinal studies have been carried out, the sub-samples of neglected children within them have, until recently, been small (eg Egeland, Sroufe & Erickson, 1983, n = 24; Hoffman-Plotkin & Twentyman, 1984, n = 14 abused and 14 neglected). This is partly because neglect of children, although common amongst maltreated children, is a relatively rare occurrence within the general population. In addition, few studies have differentiated neglect from physical abuse making it difficult to discern the unique effects of neglect (or specific types of neglect) on children s functioning. Indeed, as children rarely experience only one type of neglect, it is likely that there is a cumulative effect of these different types. Second and more commonly, a cross-sectional design is adopted. These studies examine the correlations between variables at one point in time. This research is less costly and time consuming but only highlights associations. A danger here is that some factors will correlate with neglect and become implicated in the model only by their association with a risk mechanism. As an example of this Rutter (2000) argues that social disadvantage is associated with an increased risk in poor developmental outcomes but he states there is clear evidence that this is largely because these broad social features predispose to poor parenting. The proximal risk mechanism lies in the poor parenting rather than the poverty or social disadvantage as such (Rutter, 2000, p. 653). Cross sectional studies often examine children who are defined as neglected through substantiated reports. They then examine the correlates of neglect. Those correlates that are in the child s background (for example, poverty, single parent family, lack of social support) are categorised as risk factors for neglectful parenting, while correlates with child development (poor peer relationships, low academic achievement) are categorised as developmental outcomes. The risk factors are presumed to predispose to neglectful parenting which then mediates adverse developmental outcomes. Summary Traditionally, individual psychopathology was seen as the explanation for neglect by parents. Explanations of neglect have expanded to include the broader social context adopting the socioecological approach proposed by Bronfenbrenner and Ceci (1994). Most research investigating neglect has relied on cross-sectional methodology which limits conclusions to associations between variables. Longitudinal studies are needed if causes and effects are to be understood. 13

Handout: Risk The more risk factors to which a child is exposed the greater their vulnerability to mental health problems. Risk does not cause mental health problems but it is cumulative and does predispose

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